Wayne Rooney has suggested that one Manchester United youngster is better in midfield than Trent Alexander-Arnold, despite the Liverpool star being an ‘incredible’ passer of the ball.
Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to have just enjoyed an important campaign in his career after facing a fair amount of criticism for the quality of his defending over the years.
Jurgen Klopp seemed to give Alexander-Arnold more freedom to push into more of a midfield role where he could get onto the ball and make things happen with his distribution.
Given the quality England have at right-back, some may see midfield as Alexander-Arnold’s clearest path into Gareth Southgate’s team for Euro 2024 this summer.
Wayne Rooney would prefer Manchester United youngster in midfield ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold
But it would appear that Wayne Rooney would not want Alexander-Arnold to get into the side ahead of one Manchester United youngster, with Rooney telling The Overlap that he would prefer Kobbie Mainoo in the role.
“I have watched Trent play there a few times in midfield and I think you lose a lot of his qualities. I think his delivery is incredible. Of course, he picks passes from midfield but I think he has to fight it out. I know Kyle is the best right-back in the world at the minute but I think midfield is such an important position. I would play Mainoo before Trent in midfield, 100%,” he said.
“It’s not that he’s not good in there. You see it against Everton the other week. Some of his passes he is hitting are incredible and it’s probably only Becks who hits them similar to him. But to play in midfield, that discipline you need from a defensive point of view, especially when you come up against the bigger teams. I think he will get found out a bit.”
Alan Shearer loved what Kobbie Mainoo did in FA Cup final
This past season was definitely a breakout year for Mainoo, who had previously made just three appearances for United’s first-team.
There is so much to like about Mainoo’s game, and his reward was what proved to be the winning goal against Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Alan Shearer noted that he absolutely loved how Mainoo coped in a physical duel with Erling Haaland; suggesting that it was almost as impressive as anything else he did at Wembley.
Mainoo has come from nowhere to put himself in serious contention to feature for England at Euro 2024, and there may be plenty of Three Lions fans who agree with Rooney’s assessment about Southgate’s options in the middle of the park.